@article {5875, title = {Insights into the genetic architecture of early stage age-related macular degeneration: a genome-wide association study meta-analysis.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e53830}, abstract = {

Genetic factors explain a majority of risk variance for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for late AMD implicate genes in complement, inflammatory and lipid pathways, the genetic architecture of early AMD has been relatively under studied. We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis of early AMD, including 4,089 individuals with prevalent signs of early AMD (soft drusen and/or retinal pigment epithelial changes) and 20,453 individuals without these signs. For various published late AMD risk loci, we also compared effect sizes between early and late AMD using an additional 484 individuals with prevalent late AMD. GWAS meta-analysis confirmed previously reported association of variants at the complement factor H (CFH) (peak P = 1.5{\texttimes}10(-31)) and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2) (P = 4.3{\texttimes}10(-24)) loci, and suggested Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphisms (rs2075650; P = 1.1{\texttimes}10(-6)) associated with early AMD. Other possible loci that did not reach GWAS significance included variants in the zinc finger protein gene GLI3 (rs2049622; P = 8.9{\texttimes}10(-6)) and upstream of GLI2 (rs6721654; P = 6.5{\texttimes}10(-6)), encoding retinal Sonic hedgehog signalling regulators, and in the tyrosinase (TYR) gene (rs621313; P = 3.5{\texttimes}10(-6)), involved in melanin biosynthesis. For a range of published, late AMD risk loci, estimated effect sizes were significantly lower for early than late AMD. This study confirms the involvement of multiple established AMD risk variants in early AMD, but suggests weaker genetic effects on the risk of early AMD relative to late AMD. Several biological processes were suggested to be potentially specific for early AMD, including pathways regulating RPE cell melanin content and signalling pathways potentially involved in retinal regeneration, generating hypotheses for further investigation.

}, keywords = {Apolipoproteins E, Complement Factor H, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors, Macular Degeneration, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Risk Factors, Zinc Finger Protein Gli3}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0053830}, author = {Holliday, Elizabeth G and Smith, Albert V and Cornes, Belinda K and Buitendijk, Gabri{\"e}lle H S and Jensen, Richard A and Sim, Xueling and Aspelund, Thor and Aung, Tin and Baird, Paul N and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cheng, Ching Yu and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara and Hewitt, Alex W and Inouye, Michael and Jonasson, Fridbert and Klein, Barbara E K and Launer, Lenore and Li, Xiaohui and Liew, Gerald and Lumley, Thomas and McElduff, Patrick and McKnight, Barbara and Mitchell, Paul and Psaty, Bruce M and Rochtchina, Elena and Rotter, Jerome I and Scott, Rodney J and Tay, Wanting and Taylor, Kent and Teo, Yik Ying and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Viswanathan, Ananth and Xie, Sophia and Vingerling, Johannes R and Klaver, Caroline C W and Tai, E Shyong and Siscovick, David and Klein, Ronald and Cotch, Mary Frances and Wong, Tien Y and Attia, John and Wang, Jie Jin} } @article {7019, title = {Genetic determinants of age-related macular degeneration in diverse populations from the PAGE study.}, journal = {Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci}, volume = {55}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Sep 9}, pages = {6839-50}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Substantial progress has been made in identifying susceptibility variants for AMD in European populations; however, few studies have been conducted to understand the role these variants play in AMD risk in diverse populations. The present study aims to examine AMD risk across diverse populations in known and suspected AMD complement factor and lipid-related loci.

METHODS: Targeted genotyping was performed across study sites for AMD and lipid trait-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). Genetic association tests were performed at individual sites and then meta-analyzed using logistic regression assuming an additive genetic model stratified by self-described race/ethnicity. Participants included cases with early or late AMD and controls with no signs of AMD as determined by fundus photography. Populations included in this study were European Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Singaporeans from the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study.

RESULTS: Index variants of AMD, rs1061170 (CFH) and rs10490924 (ARMS2), were associated with AMD at P=3.05{\texttimes}10(-8) and P=6.36{\texttimes}10(-6), respectively, in European Americans. In general, none of the major AMD index variants generalized to our non-European populations with the exception of rs10490924 in Mexican Americans at an uncorrected P value<0.05. Four lipid-associated SNPS (LPL rs328, TRIB1 rs6987702, CETP rs1800775, and KCTD10/MVK rs2338104) were associated with AMD in African Americans and Mexican Americans (P<0.05), but these associations did not survive strict corrections for multiple testing.

CONCLUSIONS: While most associations did not generalize in the non-European populations, variants within lipid-related genes were found to be associated with AMD. This study highlights the need for larger well-powered studies in non-European populations.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Complement Factor H, DNA, Ethnic Groups, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Humans, Macular Degeneration, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prevalence, Prospective Studies, Proteins, Risk Factors, United States}, issn = {1552-5783}, doi = {10.1167/iovs.14-14246}, author = {Restrepo, Nicole A and Spencer, Kylee L and Goodloe, Robert and Garrett, Tiana A and Heiss, Gerardo and B{\r u}zkov{\'a}, Petra and Jorgensen, Neal and Jensen, Richard A and Matise, Tara C and Hindorff, Lucia A and Klein, Barbara E K and Klein, Ronald and Wong, Tien Y and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Cornes, Belinda K and Tai, E-Shyong and Ritchie, Marylyn D and Haines, Jonathan L and Crawford, Dana C} }